An ambitious bipartisan proposal to raise the minimum age requirement for buying cigarettes in Colorado was rejected in a House committee Wednesday amid concerns the bill infringed on the rights of young adults.

“I don’t support it, but it’s an important policy discussion to have. … The idea of preventing someone from smoking who could go off to war doesn’t seem right,” said House Speaker Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, in a briefing before lawmakers on the House Finance committee rejected the bill on a 7-6 vote.

An underage person who buys a tobacco product would have committed a Class 2 petty offense and faced a $100 fine or community service under the proposal.

In February, the measure, sponsored by Reps. Beth McCann, D-Denver, and Cheri Gerou, R-Evergreen, passed out of the House Health and Environment committee.

“We recognize that this isn’t going to solve the problem,” Gerou said before the committee on Wednesday, but arguing that the measure could be a deterrent that keeps young people from smoking.

Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper did not take a position on the measure.

“We let 18-year-olds do everything else, but now we want to control some of their rights? It’s not OK,” said Rep. Janak Joshi, R-Colorado Springs, who voted against the bill.

No other states have such across-the-board age requirements, though New York City last fall did pass local legislation raising the age to purchase cigarettes to 21. In Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey and Utah, the age to purchase cigarettes is 19, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“We act all the time in an attempt to improve public health and safety. … Research shows there’s a significant deterrence against usage when there are laws against it,” Hullinghorst said. “The earlier people start smoking and using tobacco products, the more damaging the results. Maybe we can’t stop it altogether, but we can have an impact on it.”

Ferrandino said the question of how to better prevent and deter the use of cigarettes is more important than raising the age to purchase them.

A native of Colorado, Kurtis Lee was a politics reporter for The Denver Post from February 2011 until July 2014. He graduated cum laude from Temple University in 2009 with a degree in journalism and political science. He previously worked as an online writer in Washington, D.C., for the PBS NewsHour.

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